Another metropolitan government is struggling with technical issues. This time, it's the Unified Government in Kansas City, Kansas, where both police and fire departments are experiencing email outages and phone lines are also intermittently down. In KCK, animal control is a department within the police department. A sign at that facility on Wednesday read, “Due to technical issues, we are unable to issue city licenses. We can only issue them by cash or check. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.” Sebastian Manriquez was in a vain attempt Wednesday to renew the annual licenses for his two dogs. “They didn't tell me when the computer would be back up. I'll have to come back. So, hopefully, they'll respond pretty quickly soon,” he said. According to a statement from KCKPD, the cause of the technical issues is under investigation. Unified Government has had technical issues before. In 2022, UG was hit by a cyberattack. Leaders responded by investing about $800,000 in new licenses in 2023. Cybersecurity team. The 2024 budget has about $183,000 set aside to maintain the team. But cybersecurity expert Burton Kelso said no system is completely immune to hackers. “A lot of cyber threats are human issues, so it's not hard for criminals to use AI (artificial intelligence) or phishing schemes to get you to click on a link. And unfortunately, a fair number of people are doing that,” he said. UG's technology problems are part of several recent issues similar to those facing area governments, such as Jackson County and Kansas City, Missouri. In KCMO, the all-important Compass system used by contractors, builders and others to schedule inspections and get permits is starting to come back online after being down for more than two weeks. “Kansas City may be a target for cybercriminals simply because it's in the Midwest. I think my interpretation is that maybe Midwestern towns probably don't have the cyber defenses that coastal cities or Silicon Valley have. So criminals go after smaller cities just because they don't have the defenses in place that larger cities do,” Kelso said. He also said criminals will target cities and other entities to get money. Kelso said it's not a good idea to pay the ransom because criminals will probably target the same victim again. He also said cities like KCK should have backup systems for their data. Kelso said cities have a wealth of personal data of residents, vendors and other people who do business with the city that could be compromised. “This is a big problem. It's everywhere. It's out there. So, I'm concerned. I think we're all concerned,” Manriquez said. A statement from KCKPD said the current technology issues are not impacting the police or fire departments' ability to provide critical emergency services.
Other metropolitan governments are also struggling with technology problems.
This time, unified government in Kansas City, Kansas, is experiencing email outages for both police and fire departments, as well as intermittent issues with phone lines.
In KCK, animal control is a division within the police department.
On Wednesday, a sign at the facility read: “Due to technical issues, we are unable to issue city licenses and can only issue cash or checks. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.” .
Sebastian Manriquez wasted time Wednesday trying to renew the annual licenses of his two dogs.
“They didn't tell me when my computer would be back up. I have to go back. So, hopefully, it's back up soon,” he said.
A statement from KCKPD said the cause of the technical issue is under investigation.
The unity government has a history of technology problems.
In 2022, UG was subjected to a cyber attack.
In response, leaders invested about $800,000 in a new cybersecurity team in 2023.
The 2024 budget has about $183,000 set aside to keep that team.
But cybersecurity expert Burton Kelso says no system is completely immune to hackers.
“When you think about a lot of cyber threats, it's a human problem, so it's not hard for criminals to use AI (artificial intelligence) and phishing scams to get people to click on links. And unfortunately, this happens a fair amount, people,” he said.
UG's technology issues are part of several recent issues similar to those facing local governments such as Jackson County and Kansas City, Missouri.
At KCMO, the critical Compass system used by contractors, builders and others to schedule inspections and obtain permits is starting to come back online after being down for more than two weeks.
“I think Kansas City could be a target for cybercriminals just because it's in the Midwest,” Kelso said. “The interpretation is that a Midwestern town probably doesn't have the cyber defenses that a coastal city or a Silicon Valley city has, so criminals go after smaller cities just because they don't have the defenses that a larger city has.”
He also said criminals are targeting cities and other entities for money.
Kelso said it's not a good idea to pay a ransom because the criminals will likely target the same victim again.
He also said that cities like KCK need a data backup system.
Kelso said cities have large amounts of personal data from residents, vendors and others who do business with the city that could be compromised.
“This is a big problem. It's spreading everywhere. So, yeah, I'm worried and I think everyone is too,” Manriquez said.
A statement from KCKPD said the current technical issues are not impacting the police and fire departments' ability to provide critical emergency services.
